8 days after Bihar meal tragedy, principal held

Bereaved relatives of a victim who had died, allegedly as a result of food-poisoning from the free mid-day meal provided at their school near Chhapra in Bihar. HT photo

After a week-long manhunt, Bihar police on Wednesday arrested the principal of the primary school where 23 students had died last week after consuming free mid-day meal laced with a poisonous pesticide.

Saran superintendent of police Sujit Kumar said that Meena Devi – principal of the Dharmasati primary school in Gandaman – was arrested by members of the special investigation team (SIT) at around 1pm on Wednesday while she was on her way to a court in Chhapra to file for anticipatory bail.

Meena Devi, who had gone underground after the incident, has been charged with gross negligence in running the mid-day meal scheme leading to contamination of the cooking oil with organo-phosphorous, which ultimately killed 23 students on July 16.